Maldives Vice President Ahmed Adeeb Arrested For 'High Treason' Over Alleged Plot To Assassinate President

Update: 6:09 a.m. EDT-- Maldives police officials said, after Saturday's arrest of the country's Vice President Ahmed Adeeb, that they had collected evidence in last month’s assassination attempt on President Yameen Abdul Gayoom. The officials, however, did not clarify what the evidence was.

"Security of Male has been tightened. Police won't allow any violence in the capital city. Both police and the army will be deployed to patrol the streets of Male," Abdulla Nawaz, a police official said at a news conference, according to Haveeru Online.

Government spokesperson Ibrahim Muaz Ali also confirmed the arrest of Adeeb, who was arrested on charges of high treason on Saturday morning, and was taken to police detention centre in Dhoonidhoo. "[The President's Office] has been informed [by the police] of the arrest of the vice president for an on-going investigation," Ali said, according to Haveeru Online.

Just hours before the arrest, President Yameen Abdul Gayoom sacked his police chief, Hussain Waheed, as a part of a series of firings in the country following the assassination plot, Agence France Presse reported.

Original story:

Maldives Vice President Ahmed Adeeb was arrested Saturday from capital Malé’s airport for "high treason," amid increasing speculations over his connection with a blast on a speedboat carrying the country’s President Yameen Abdul Gayoom last month. According to a report from Havereru Online, a local news website, the country’s capital Malé was put under a lockdown Saturday over ongoing investigations into the blast.

"Vice President Ahmed Adheeb has been arrested under a warrant for the investigation into the blast on the presidential speedboat," local police said in a tweet in local language Dhivehi, according to Haveeru Online. The blast in question happened when Gayoom and his wife were returning to Malé from the airport. Gayoom's wife, an official and a bodyguard were wounded in the blast but the president was unhurt.

The announcement of the arrest was made Saturday by Home Minister Umar Naseer, on Twitter. The report by Haveeru Online added that Adeeb had landed at the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) on a Singapore Airline flight before he was arrested.